Gig Review: Pleasure Island, The Gentle Scars, Petrichor and Macks Nyahoe - The Jacaranda Basement Liverpool - Saturday 27 December 2025

Words and Photos: RBY

This gig was subtitled a Ramonesy Christmas with each band supplementing their normal set with a couple of Ramones covers. A decent idea and it added fun to the event.

Macks Nyahoe and masked band take the stage and ploughed straight into a frantic heavy industrial meets techno set. Some fantastic sounds emanate from them, sharp guitar sounds and heavy bass held together by some exceptional drums and providing a backdrop for some keyboard based sonics to thunder along to the vocals. Interesting and a bit fresh.

Petrichor have a Nirvanaesque shine to them, they take a grunge basic sound and then pulverise it into their own via a more Riot Grrl feel. The quieter downbeat parts are there then musical upheavals bring on the noise. Gritty one minute, soft the next and delivering a heart felt emotional punch lyrically. A talent for songwriting emanates from this band and its a deep and powerful sound they produce.

The Gentle Scars glam it up rom the off in the dark packed Jacaranda Basement. Their sound takes as much from Hanoi Rocks as it does from Johnathon Richman with a smattering of a more punky style and a hint of dirt from say, The Stooges or The Sonics. The band are locked in solid and tight, all can really play and here they bounce off each other nicely with some excellent lead guitar work thats given wings by a great rhythm section and some powerful drums with all being allowed to shine through. Then bang on top of this potent mix, a front person who plays with the crowd, frequently leaves the stage heading into the thick of the crowd and leaves melodies that remain in your head for hours after, pretty sublime.

Pleasure Island have a stand in drummer tonight (and as they are a duo thats half the band)! But he’s good and he’s been there before and he does a great job. Vocalist/Guitarist Sean leads the duo through twisting and turning musical styles that bounce from electro disco to Suede and then well pretty much any Indie band of note you care to mention. Its eclectic, tuneful, never less than fascinating and like the Scars before them contains sounds that permeate the listeners skull and don’t let go.